#Review of Where Danger Lies (The Jake Bernstein FBI Series Book 3) by Donna Del Oro w/a rafflecopter giveaway!

Based on actual circumstances, two cases prove that truth is indeed stranger than fiction as FBI Special agent, Jake Bernstein, is pulled into two apparently unrelated cases while on medical leave in San Diego. A female officer assigned to Naval Base Coronado is killed and a Muslim woman is viciously beaten and left for dead. Jake knows about seeking truth and justice amid lies and deception. He suspects something else is at work, two very different evils overlapping as two different worlds violently collide.

Meg Larsen has come to terms with Jake’s role in her beloved grandmother’s death, accepts that he has a dangerous job, and is proud of his role in thwarting terrorists who threatened countless lives. She’s willing to aid him in his investigations but not so accepting of his refusal to commit to her and give her a reason to alter her career plans.

Even as Jake arrives at a crossroads in his relationship with Meg, he must stay alert and strive to keep both of them safe. Although San Diego is sunny and picture-perfect, you never know…WHERE DANGER LIES.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt One:

“NCIs? What’s the crime, Admiral Snider?”

“Murder. One of the officers on my ship. I think an objective look is needed.”

“What happened to him?”

“Her. Lieutenant Samantha Carlton was found dead in the trunk of her car three days ago. The preliminary tox screen showed nothing, but the lab did an advanced analysis. She’d been poisoned with ketamine. Made her heart stop. She was forty-one and in excellent physical condition. Also, someone crushed her larynx and windpipe.”

“Sounds like a case of overkill.” Jake rubbed the underside of his chin from force of habit. Intriguing case but he really didn’t want to get involved. “Perhaps premeditated, but made to look like a crime of passion or rage? That’d be my off-the-cuff assessment.”

“Good, now we’re getting somewhere,” Rear Admiral Snider said. “The local cops are pushing the NCI team in one direction. Their theory doesn’t hold water, that it was a hate crime. Lieutenant Carlton was gay, but more importantly, she had access to classified guided missile codes.”

“Understood,” Jake said, shaking his head. National security was at issue here. Even unofficially, he was already involved.

Okay. Somehow I missed the second book in the series. Seriously, I missed it. I read the first one and LOVED it. Jake is like my second ultimate boyfriend, next to Jack Ryan. Which I compared the two in my earlier review and I still by it today.

I really liked this installment. I will have to say that I felt like some things were missing but that’s only because I haven’t read the second book. Ms. Del Oro did a good job of filling in the blanks but for this reader, I still miss having to fill in the gaps. This one starts off with a bang and really doesn’t let up. I loved Jake’s new job and what it means to him. Meg, on the other hand, is a bit slower in coming to grips with it. In fact, Meg in this installment kinda got on my nerves. She didn’t trust Jake when he was gone. I get the fact that she is coming to terms with Jake’s role with her grandmother but if she really wants a relationship with Jake, she really needs to learn to trust him.

The book is told in Jake’s POV which I LOVE. Not many romantic suspense books are written in the hero’s POV so it’s interesting to get his thoughts and feelings. Plus, he really does want things to work with Meg but it’s hard when she doesn’t make it easy for him. The suspense in the book is top notch. Not too over the top and realistic, too. The way that Ms. Del Oro wove both plots is brilliant. This is one of those times that I didn’t see certain things coming and it kept me guessing until the end.

Overall, another solid book with my book boyfriend, Jake. I need to get the second book to fill in some of the gaps and well…just because. It’s Jake Bernstein! *swoon*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Donna Del Oro’s dream since childhood (when she used to create her own comic books and share them with her friends) has been to write fiction. Escaping the humdrum of ordinary life always seemed to her an ideal form of self-entertainment. Better than TV and even better than some books! As soon as she retired from high school teaching (which was a suspenseful adventure in itself), Donna turned to fiction writing. Becoming a member of the RWA and Sisters in Crime has helped her to learn the craft and focus on what she needed to do to get published.

Besides writing Chica Lit, she writes romantic suspense and thrillers. Her two latest SMART ROMANTIC THRILLERS are: A BODYGUARD OF LIES, LIES IN WAIT (Book Two) and a paranormal thriller, THE DELPHI BLOODLINE. A BODYGUARD OF LIES takes place in present-day England, Ireland and Germany with echoes back to WW II. A Jewish-American FBI agent, who’s fluent in German, goes undercover to investigate an elderly, naturalized American grandmother, suspected of being a Nazi spy and war criminal. LIES IN WAIT follows FBI agent, Jake Bernstein (now a member of a CounterTerrorism Task Force), to Silicon Valley. Working undercover as a Muslim biotech scientist, he is recruited to join a sleeper cell intent on terrorist activities. All three of her published thrillers remain on Musa Publishing’s mystery imprint’s Top Twenty Bestselling books.